What to Do: Cut baguette in half lengthwise.Give the bread a quick dip in water and steam over high heat for 10mins.Meanwhile, dice onions and mince garlic.Fry garlic in oil until fragrant, add beef and brown over high heat, drain the fat and add the onions, salt, and sugar to taste.Stir fry until onions are cooked.

To Serve: Use scissors to cut steamed baguette into thin strips and arrange on a plate, top with stir fried beef, onion oil, and peanuts.Use a lettuce leaf as your “wrapper” to wrap together a slice of bread, beef filling, herbs, bean sprouts, sour stuff and cucumber slices.Give the roll a dip in fish sauce before taking a bite.This dish is served as seen in the picture, the diner wraps as they eat.Another serving option is to mix together everything in a bowl much like a salad.

**Wash rice and soak in water for at least 4 hours before steaming.While rice is steaming, simmer together sugar, coconut milk, salt and anises for 15 mins.Cool syrup and remove anise seeds.Divide steamed rice into 2 portions.Mix 1 portion of rice with ½ of the coconut syrup.Add panda paste about ½ tsp pandan paste to the remaining syrup and mix it with the other portion of rice.

**Wash beans and cook until tender.Mash beans and mix with sugar and oil.Stir fry over medium heat until thickened.

Assembling the Rice: Line a square cake pan with foil or plastic wrap.Add a layer of rice, smooth it out and pat it down.Next comes the mung beans, and then other rice portion, remember to smooth out and pat down after each layer addition.Tightly pack down the rice before removing and cutting.Cut the rice “cake” into thin strips, then cut the strips diagonally to make diamond shaped pieces.Arrange the pieces on a plate.

What to Do: Cut lotus stems into approx 4 inch long pieces, then shred vertically in half.Julianne carrots and mix with lotus stems, sugar, fish sauce and vinegar.Marinate for at least ½ hour.Meanwhile, boil prawns in coconut juice or water, cool, peel and slice in half.Coarsely chop the fried shallots and rau răm.Squeeze out excess juices from the veggies after they’re done marinating then mix everything together and give the salad a taste test.All flavors should be ever, add fish sauce if saltiness is lacking, and lime juice if sourness is slacking.

To Make the Flower Garnish: Soak the daikon slices in a solution made from water and vinegar, add coloring if you like.After about 15 mins the daikon slices should be wilted, remove them from the solution and squeeze out excess juices.Take one slice and roll it up this will be the flower’s center.Then wrap around the center 3 more slices this will be the center “layer” of the flower.Afterwards wrap 5 more slices around the 3 slices and center this will be the outer layer of the flower.Arrange the salad on a plate, use a chopstick to create a small hole in the center (not too deep, just enough to hold the flower).Place the flower into the hole; gently pull the petals out to make the flower “bloom”.The flower should have 3 layers consisting of 1 petal tightly wrapped in the center, 3 petals in the center layer that are just beginning to bloom and 5 petals in the outer layer widely open. An average flower requires at 9 daikon slices or “petals” (size of flowers depend on amount of petals used).

Traditionally this dish was only served to the royal family. Over the years it made its way into menus for formal events such as weddings and new years. There is really nothing special about the ingredients, what make this dish standout from the rest is the food arrangement to creation an image of the mystical phoenix.

What to Do:Pell and clean shrimp.Put everything except the eggs in a food processor and process into a smooth paste.Beat the eggs with the oil.Using a non-stick pan add a few tablespoons (amount depends on size of your pan) of egg mixture, tilt and swirl the pan to create a thin sheet (like making crepes).Cook the eggs completely, remove and repeat the process until all of the eggs are used up.Divide the shrimp paste to equal the number of egg wrappers created.Spread on portion of the shrimp paste onto on of the egg wrappers.Roll as you would a Swiss roll and steam the phoenix rolls for about 15 mins or until done.

What to Do:Cut carrots and daikon into thin long strips, mix with sugar, vinegar and water (can add food coloring too).Marinate until the veggies are wilted, then drain and squeeze out excess juices. To create the phoenix, cut the tomato in half then slice into the tomato at an angle, evenly at both sides so the cuts meet at the center and create V shaped layers that stack on top of each other. Lightly push the layers back a little to create the body.Cut a slice off of the other tomato half remove the seeds, this will be the bird’s neck/head.Make a small slice on one of the ends and bend the tomato flesh slightly to create a beak.Using tooth pick ends, pin on eyes (carrots) and a chili on top to give the head some “character”.Pin the “neck” into the center of the body.Cut the remaining tomato into 2 slices, these slices will be the wings of the phoenix, carve whatever designs in them as you please.Arrange the wings to the left and right of the neck to create a bird.

Cut the phoenix rolls diagonally into thin slices.Arrange the slices behind the bird to make its tail.Arrange the daikon and carrot slices marinated earlier in vinegar around the tail and body of the bird to represent the phoenix’s elegant feathers.

What to Do: Fry pork hock in oil until golden remove and add mince garlic.Fry garlic until fragrant, add back in the pork hock along with the preserved bean curd.Stir fry for a few mins before adding liquid from preserved bean curd and enough the coconut juice to cover the pork.Simmer until the pork is tender, add salt and sugar to taste.Pick ong choy into small pieces, wash, blanch, drain and arrange on a plate.Arrange pork hock in the center and ladle on some braising liquid before serving.

What to Do: Hydrate mushrooms in water, wash and cut off stems.Braise mushrooms for at least ½ hour with sliced ginger and enough broth or water to cover the mushrooms and salt to taste.Meanwhile cut lettuce or gai lan into bite size pieces, blanch, drain and arrange on a plate.Wash abalone then slice and mix with wine.Arrange mushrooms around the lettuce, and abalone in the center.Mix together tapioca starch with water to make a slurry.In a pot boil together, oyster sauce, 6 tbs braising broth, salt and sugar to taste.Add slurry and stir until thickened.Pour “sauce” over the mushrooms and abalone.Garnish a fresh pepper and serve.

What to Do: Wash and drain prawns.Mince garlic and cut onion into 1 inch long pieces.In wok add prawns, fish balls and water.Boil, string occasionally until the water almost completely evaporates.At this point add fish sauce, pepper and sugar. Continue to cook over high heat until all of the liquid has evaporated.Add garlic, onion and pepper sauce.Cook for a few mins more until fragrant.

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